Sierra Mansfield S.A.V.E.S the world

Amancai BirabenStaff Writer As Sierra Mansfield showed her camera to children living in a small village in Myanmar, she shared an experience common to us but completely unfamiliar and extraordinary to them. Most of these children had never seen an image of themselves, nor the machine in which the photos were produced. As she tilted the small screen towards them, grins broke out across their faces.“The look on their faces made me tear up—to see that much joy on a person’s face because of a photograph was amazing,” Mansfield said.Mansfield is a member of the Student Action Volunteer Effort (S.A.V.E.), an organization that makes frequent medical missions to Myanmar. According to Mansfield, because the country       has been involved in a Civil War since 1948, S.A.V.E. is their main source of medical help. S.A.V.E. was founded              in 2006 by a Santa Mon     ica pediatrician, Dr.       Marna Geisler, and Man     sfield’s mother, Nancy Mans        field, who remains a key                                                                            figure in S.A.V.E.“My mom went on a trip to Myanmar with Dr. Geisler, and there was a need to make the trips more formal and give people the ability to have tax deductible donations. She fell in love with the people of Myanmar and wanted to give back. They needed so much,” Mansfield said.Mansfield soon followed in her mother’s footsteps and joined the S.A.V.E. board.Nancy Mansfield said that working with her daughter on this project has been an amazing experience.“It is a labor of love and makes me appreciate all I have. I was so happy to have my daughter on this trip,” Nancy Mansfield said. “It was wonderful to be able to share this with [Sierra].”Mansfield was instantly drawn to the cause because of her interest in medicine. She also wished to broaden her horizons, both literally and figuratively.“Large medical mission groups like Doctors Without Borders do not go to Myanmar,” Mansfield said. “I thought it was important to visit a country where        most people have not received any medical attention.”While on the missions, she helped the community of Myanmar in many ways. In December 2011, she and the rest of S.A.V.E. travelled to Myanmar, and in a time span of four days, 650 people received medications and medical assistance.“We provided funds for one of the villages to buy materials to build a cover for their drinking water well, and for the installation of a toilet in the monastery school. We paid for shoes for over 150 kids at school. We also supplied glasses to over 200 people,” Mansfield said.Since the team travels to Myanmar often and buys supplies for their trips, Mansfield says that the expenses pile up. Thankfully, S.A.V.E. has many supporters that donate their time and/or money to the cause.“Everything is done through donations,” Mansfield said. “Without people’s generosity we wouldn’t have had anything to give.”In the 2009-10 school year, Mansfield brought the organization to Samo as a club. However, a lack of proper funding brought the club to a close.“We ended up spending more money than we made,” Mansfield said.However, Mansfield manages to balance her work for the organization with her schoolwork.“I am pretty good at balancing my schoolwork with extracurriculars and the work I do for S.A.V.E. I don’t view it as a job, but more like a hobby. Going to Myanmar made all the hard work worth it; I would do it again in a heartbeat.”While school does not detract from her work with S.A.V.E., limited technology and communication in Myanmar hinder some of her efforts.“I get frustrated with the time difference and their lack of reliable internet. It makes is really difficult to communicate with people,” Mansfield said. “Patience, patience, patience.”Despite slight obstacles, Mansfield finds a way to make a difference in Myanmar.“I had the most unbelievable time in Myanmar this past December. I made friends that will last a lifetime in those short 10 days. Just to see a kids face after taking their pulse or listening to their lungs was priceless,” Mansfield said.One of the reasons Mansfield loves being a part of S.A.V.E. is because it prepares her for her ideal profession. Mansfield has always been interested in the medical field and she recently committed to the School of Kinesiology to study athletic training at University of Michigan.“Growing up I played a lot of sports, but I got injured a lot,” Mansfield said. “Sports medicine will let me be involved in a sport, I just don’t have a chance of getting injured.”Aiding people in Myanmar has given Mansfield a foot in the door for studying medicine. According to Mansfield, most of the people in Myanmar have never been to a doctor or had a medical exam.“We went to a fishing village once and set up a big tarp and some chairs for people to get examined,” Mansfield said. “Hundreds of people came from towns miles over. A lot had never gone to a doctor.”Whether it was giving them their first pair of shoes or first tetanus shot, Sierra Mansfield is giving invaluable gifts to people who need it the most.